Buddhism

===Historical roots===
Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of [[Iron Age India]] around the middle of the first millennium BCE.{{sfnp|Gethin|2008|p=xv}} This was a period of great intellectual ferment and socio-cultural change known as the [[History of India#Second urbanisation (c. 600 – 200 BCE)|"Second urbanisation"]], marked by the growth of towns and trade, the composition of the [[Upanishads]] and the historical emergence of the [[Śramaṇa]] traditions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abraham Eraly |title=The First Spring: The Golden Age of India |year=2011|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-670-08478-4 |pages=538, 571 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=te1sqTzTxD8C}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=26–41}}{{Refn|group=note|While some interpretations state that Buddhism may have originated as a social reform, other scholars state that it is incorrect and anachronistic to regard the Buddha as a social reformer.<ref name="QueenKing1996p17"/> Buddha's concern was "to reform individuals, help them to leave society forever, not to reform the world... he never preached against social inequality". [[Richard Gombrich]], quoted by Christopher Queen.<ref name="QueenKing1996p17">{{harvc|first=Christopher |last=Queen |c=Introduction: The Shapes and Sources of Engaged Buddhism |in1=Queen |in2=King |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZsTgY1lNNsC&pg=PA17 17–18] |year=1996}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=30–31}}}}

New ideas developed both in the [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic tradition]] in the form of the Upanishads, and outside of the Vedic tradition through the Śramaṇa movements.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hajime Nakamura |title=A History of Early Vedānta Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=asNLliQHDNQC |year=1983 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0651-1 |pages=102–104, 264–269, 294–295 }}; Quote: "But the Upanishadic ultimate meaning of the Vedas, was, from the viewpoint of the Vedic canon in general, clearly a new idea.."; p. 95: The [oldest] Upanishads in particular were part of the Vedic corpus (...) When these various new ideas were brought together and edited, they were added on to the already existing Vedic..."; p. 294: "When early Jainism came into existence, various ideas mentioned in the extant older Upanishads were current,....".</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Klaus G. Witz |title=The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jnPlEqwe_UC |year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass  |isbn=978-81-208-1573-5 |pages= 1–2, 23}}; Quote: "In the [[Aranyaka]]s therefore, thought and inner spiritual awareness started to separate subtler, deeper aspects from the context of ritual performance and myth with which they had been united up to then. This process was then carried further and brought to completion in the [[Upanishad]]s. (...) The knowledge and attainment of the Highest Goal had been there from the Vedic times. But in the Upanishads inner awareness, aided by major intellectual breakthroughs, arrived at a language in which Highest Goal could be dealt with directly, independent of ritual and sacred lore".<br />{{cite book|author=Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle|title=The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOzdcIxJy2sC|year=1994|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-03479-1|pages=58 with footnote 148, 22–29, 87–103, for Upanishads–Buddhist Sutta discussion see 65–72}}</ref><ref name="Olivelle1992">{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle |title=The Samnyasa Upanisads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fB8uneM7q1cC|year=1992|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536137-7|pages=3–5, 68–71}};<br />{{cite book|author=Christoph Wulf |title=Exploring Alterity in a Globalized World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZxeCwAAQBAJ |year=2016|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-33113-1 |pages=125–126}}; Quote: "But he [Bronkhorst] talks about the simultaneous emergence of a Vedic and a non-Vedic asceticism. (...) [On Olivelle] Thus, the challenge for old Vedic views consisted of a new theology, written down in the early Upanishads like the Brhadaranyaka and the Mundaka Upanishad. The new set of ideas contained the...."</ref> The term Śramaṇa refers to several Indian religious movements parallel to but separate from the [[historical Vedic religion]], including Buddhism, [[Jainism]] and others such as [[Ājīvika]].<ref>AL Basham (1951), History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas – a Vanished Indian Religion, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1204-8}}, pp. 94–103</ref>

Several Śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-[[Mahavira]]), and these influenced both the [[āstika and nāstika]] traditions of [[Indian philosophy]].<ref name=reginaldray247>Reginald Ray (1999), Buddhist Saints in India, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-513483-4}}, pp. 237–240, 247–249</ref> According to Martin Wilshire, the Śramaṇa tradition evolved in India over two phases, namely [[Pratyekabuddha|Paccekabuddha]] and [[Śrāvaka|Savaka]] phases, the former being the tradition of individual ascetic and the latter of disciples, and that Buddhism and [[Jainism]] ultimately emerged from these.<ref name=wiltshire293>Martin Wiltshire (1990), Ascetic Figures Before and in Early Buddhism, De Gruyter, {{ISBN|978-3-11-009896-9}}, p. 293</ref> [[Historical Vedic religion|Brahmanical]] and non-Brahmanical ascetic groups shared and used several similar ideas,{{sfnp|Samuel|2010|pp=123–125}} but the Śramaṇa traditions also drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts and philosophical roots, states Wiltshire, to formulate their own doctrines.<ref name=reginaldray247/><ref name=wiltshire226>Martin Wiltshire (1990), Ascetic Figures Before and in Early Buddhism, De Gruyter, {{ISBN|978-3-11-009896-9}}, pp. 226–227</ref> Brahmanical motifs can be found in the oldest Buddhist texts, using them to introduce and explain Buddhist ideas.{{sfnp|Shults|2014|p=126}} For example, prior to Buddhist developments, the Brahmanical tradition internalised and variously reinterpreted the [[Srauta|three Vedic sacrificial fires]] as concepts such as Truth, Rite, Tranquility or Restraint.{{sfnp|Shults|2014|p=127}} Buddhist texts also refer to the three Vedic sacrificial fires, reinterpreting and explaining them as ethical conduct.{{sfnp|Shults|2014|pp=125–129}}

The Śramaṇa religions challenged and broke with the Brahmanic tradition on core assumptions such as [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (soul, self), [[Brahman]], the nature of afterlife, and they rejected the authority of the [[Vedas]] and [[Upanishad]]s.<ref>P. Billimoria (1988), Śabdapramāṇa: Word and Knowledge, Studies of Classical India Volume 10, Springer, {{ISBN|978-94-010-7810-8}}, pp. 1–30</ref>{{sfnp| Jaini|2001|pp=47–48}}<ref name="Siderits2007p16"/> Buddhism was one among several Indian religions that did so.<ref name="Siderits2007p16">{{cite book|author=Mark Siderits |title=Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bK6O4Z7RyH8C |year=2007|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-5369-1|page=16 with footnote 3}}</ref>

Early Buddhist positions in the [[Theravada]] tradition had not established any deities, but were epistemologically cautious rather than directly [[atheist]]. Later Buddhist traditions were more influenced by the critique of deities within [[Hinduism]] and therefore more committed to a strongly atheist stance. These developments were historic and epistemological as documented in verses from [[Śāntideva]]'s [[Bodhicaryāvatāra]], and supplemented by reference to [[suttas]] and [[Jataka tales|jātakas]] from the [[Pali canon]].<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199644650.013.004 |date=2013 |last1=Skilton |first1=Andrew |chapter=22 Buddhism  |title=The Oxford Handbook of Atheism|isbn=9780199644650  }}</ref>